Trump tries to throttle border asylum claims

The Trump administration rolled out a new immigration rule Monday that scraps asylum protections for most migrants arriving at the U.S. southern border, drawing harsh rebuke and immediate threats of court challenges.

The president’s administrative guideline says migrants who have passed through a country other than their own before arriving at the border won’t be eligible for asylum.

That means a majority of the men, women and children who have shown up at the border in recent months would be ineligible, since they trekked from their native Central American countries through Mexico.

The rule will take effect Tuesday.

But the American Civil Liberties Union, which has successfully blocked the administration in court before when it’s tried to enforce hard-line immigration policies, quickly responded it would bring legal action.

“The Trump administration is trying to unilaterally reverse our country’s legal and moral commitment to protect those fleeing danger,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “This new rule is patently unlawful and we will sue swiftly.”

The Trump rule breaks with decades of U.S. and international law and escalates the administration’s quest to stop illegal immigration and curtail asylum rights.

Attorney General William Barr claimed the U.S. is a “generous” country but that an influx of predominantly Central American migrants is forcing the administration to take drastic measures.

“This rule will decrease forum shopping by economic migrants and those who seek to exploit our asylum system to obtain entry to the United States,” Barr said.

Federal law allows refugees with credible fear of religious, political or social prosecution in their home countries to claim asylum in the U.S., regardless of how they arrived.

Lucia Allain, an organizer at immigration advocacy group RAICES, tied the Trump administration’s attempted asylum overhaul to racist comments the president made over the weekend about four U.S. congresswomen.

Allain also pledged her organization would bring the matter to court.

“This is ending asylum protections for all minorities. It’s an Asian ban. It’s a Muslim ban. It’s a Latino ban. It’s a black ban. It’s racist and wrong on every level,” Allain said.